Two men jailed for murdering Rochdale taxi driver in burger row

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a taxi driver after he asked one of them to stop eating a chicken burger and chips in his car.

Ali Asghar, 39, suffered catastrophic head injuries after being attacked in Rochdale and was left "unrecognisable".

Connor McPartland, 20, and Martin Treacy, 18, of Oldham were found guilty of murder at Manchester Crown Court.

McPartland was sentenced to at least 14 years and six months. Treacy was jailed for at least 13 years and six months.

The court heard the pair had ordered an Uber taxi to take them from Oldham town centre to Rochdale on 30 October last year.

'Drunk and entitled'

During the journey Treacy began eating his takeaway in the back of Mr Asghar's vehicle and swore at the driver when he asked him to stop.

Mr Asghar pulled over at a petrol station in Queensway, Rochdale, and was then set upon by the pair outside his vehicle in what the judge said was a "savage and sustained attack".

He was taken to hospital where he died two weeks later.

The victim's younger brother, Azhar Ali, said he had initially walked past Mr Asghar as he lay on a stretcher in a hospital corridor.

He said: "Ali's face was unrecognisable from the bloodied facial injuries he had sustained. It was only as I passed his shoes that I recognised these as belonging to my brother."

Reading his victim personal statement from the witness box, he told the court his brother had left his native Pakistan to settle in the UK in 2009.

The economics graduate started delivering leaflets, worked in a McDonald's restaurant and qualified to work in security.

Mr Asghar went on to gain his taxi licence as he continued to work "extreme hours" to financially support his family back home, the court was told.

Sentencing, Judge Alan Conrad QC told the defendants Mr Asghar was "a decent hard-working man".

He said: "Ali Asghar had the misfortune to meet you two, a pair of drunken, entitled louts.

"The attack upon him followed a dispute for which he was in no way to blame. You both attacked him and both bear equal responsibility for the violence and the consequences.

"This was a savage and sustained attack. You left him lying on the ground with dreadful injuries and you both ran off and started to plan your cover-up."

Treacy had earlier admitted manslaughter but denied murder.

McPartland and Treacy's barristers said both were remorseful and planned to use their time in custody to "learn and improve".

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